Memo to Beaverton Mayor Rob Drake

Earlier this week, Mayor Drake gave his State of the City address, and despite the fact that his speech practically ignored the issue, it seems the main thing people wanted to talk about was the city's "annexation policy."

Translation: people still aren't happy about the fact that the city of Beaverton has attempted to forcibly annex thousands of homes in unicorporated Washington County, mine included. The Oregon Legislature passed a bill that gives Nike, Tektronix, Electro Scientific Industries and Columbia Sportwear an exemption from annexation for the next three-plus decades, but left the little people -- those of us without a multi-million-dollar stable of lawyers at our disposal -- out of luck.

That's why I'm not shedding any tears when Beaverton cries about having to spend thousands of dollars to defend itself against Nike's public records requests. Especially when the hard drive on the mayor's computer is "accidentally" erased.

I thought Circuit Judge Gayle Nachtigal was exceedingly kind in calling the city incompetent and negligent, rather than fining the city for deliberately erasing the files. (Have you seen the IBM Thinkpad commercial where the first Thinkpad in a fictional company goes to Ned, the biggest clutz in the building, to make sure it's well-built? Well, I think the Beaverton equivalent of "Ned" was told to "back up" the hard drive and -- oops -- he erased it. Sorry 'bout that.)

This segment of the Oregonian story sums up the issue nicely:

Jim Cape, a Cedar Hills resident, said Drake had promised as a candidate for mayor in 1992 and again in about 2001 that he would never forcibly annex Washington County property owners. "So why should your speech today be believed?" Cape asked.

Drake said that things had changed. A county policy adopted in 1986 and state legislation passed in 1993 had set in motion changes to urban services that are coming to fruition.

Whitney Bates, who lives in unincorporated Raleigh Hills, told Drake that he couldn't see any advantage to being annexed.

Drake said the county -- including the sheriff -- offers good service. But the city gives more of it. "We provide more detail," Drake said.

The city gives more of it. There's the real reason the city wants to annex all this land: the tax revenue it would bring (my taxes would increase about 50 percent, I think I remember hearing). Drake went on to talk about how it plans to spend $50,000 in the current budget for "visioning," along with much more next year; how the city recently bought the Westgate Theater to continue development around the Round (he didn't mention that the city spent $5 million, which was more than the appraised value, and did it without any citizen input); and that he supports upcoming tax measures for the school district's building needs and the county's public safety and libraries.

Umm, Mayor Drake? Thanks, but no thanks. I don't want more of your services. I don't want your vision. I don't want your multi-million-dollar transit-oriented running joke called the Round. And I don't appreciate that you think it acceptable to shove yourself upon me and my neighbors without so much as asking first.